Lake Trail in Town of Palm Beach is one of the best paved bike trails in South Florida

Lake Trail sign in front of Flagler Museum, Palm Beach, Florida

~ I don’t know how the millionaires in Palm Beach ever permitted it, but instead of having their magnificent properties extend out to their private docks on the Intracoastal, for six miles, there is a lovely paved bike path that interrupts their backyards.

Historic home along Lake Trail in Palm Beach

Lucky for us.

The Lake Trail in Palm Beach provides traffic-free bicycling ideal for families with postcard-like scenery, a few historic buildings and glimpses into those exclusive backyards and their mansions.

Lake Trail ends with a view of the Palm Beach Inlet

Town of Palm Beach is the barrier island east of West Palm Beach inhabited by the very rich and famous. (This is where the Kennedy family had its compound.) Here the Intracoastal Waterway is a wide expanse called Lake Worth.

The Lake Trail has a few interruptions (around the Sailfish Club, for example, where we saw a flotilla of children learning to sail.) But it is easy to follow and the few times you end up on the street, it is in residential areas of Palm Beach with little traffic.

We like to park on the street near theHenry Morrison Flagler Museum. (It’s a must-see house museum that tells the fascinating history of the railroad and real estate magnate who built the Palm Beach mansion as a wedding present.) Don’t park in the museum lot — security guards will shoo you away. Instead, use the spaces on Whitehall Way adjacent to the museum lot. If you park here and head north, you need to cross Royal Poinciana Way and pick up the bike trail at the water’s edge on the other side of the small park at that intersection. An alternative spot is to find street parking north of Royal Poinciana Way. There are street spaces on Sunset Avenue.

From the Flagler museum, you can take Lake Trail south for about two miles and north about four miles north. You always have water views on the west, including passing yachts and the skyline of West Palm Beach. To the east, you peak through and over the ficus hedges to see the mansions of Palm Beach.

The paved bike trail is landscaped with many trees, some quite old and picturesque. Historical markers show you the original church in Palm Beach (now a home) and the oldest house.

If you bike north, to vary your return, consider biking over to the Atlantic and continuing along North Ocean Boulevard for awhile. There isn’t much traffic at the northern tip of the island and there are some great ocean views.

We like to stop for lunch at the outdoor courtyard atPizza AL Fresco. It’s located at 14 Via Mizner, which is a historic section off Worth Avenue that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Another classic Palm Beach spot for breakfast or lunch or a milk shake: Green’s Pharmacy, 151 N County Road, an old-school lunch counter inside a drug store that is famous because various Kennedys had lunch here after attending the Catholic church across the street.

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Author: Bonnie Gross
Bonnie is co-founder of Florida Rambler.
She teaches journalism at Florida Atlantic University, is the former executive producer of Sun-Sentinel.com and enjoys hiking, biking and paddling with her husband David Blasco. They live on the Middle River in Fort Lauderdale.
Bonnie Gross on Google+

3 Comments

I am writing to let you know that yesterday, Sunday September 21st, here at the Flagler Museum we had people parking in our private parking lot and unloading bicycles to ride the Lake Trail in Palm Beach. We do not permit parking in our parking lot for such activities. The Flagler Museum parking lot is a private lot for Museum visitors only. Museum security officers will inform such visitors that they cannot park in the Museum’s parking lot and instruct them to leave the property.

If you have any questions about this matter, please don’t hesitate to contact me at your convenience.